12 dpaonthenet.net
Originally developed as a general-purpose
calibration stand for use in laboratories, the
CalCube is a portable vacuum calibration
solution which can calibrate any suitable
vacuum system. It has now carved out a
new niche calibrating freeze dryer vacuum
instrumentation in pharmaceutical plants.“Accuracy is of key importance when mak-
ing life-changing medication” states Jamie
Shanahan, Sales Director of Chell Instru-
ments. “For pharmaceutical factories, cali-
bration has historically meant shutting down
production, dismantling sensitive measure-
ment equipment and sending it off for cali-
bration. Not anymore!”The CalCube’s adaptability came to the fore
when a global pharmaceutical firm with pro-duction based in Sweden contacted Chell
for help. They’d spotted the CalCube’s po-
tential when looking to avoid the costly shut-
down of vacuum freeze dryers on a critical
production line.“I flew to Sweden to help their technical and
engineering staff understand its versatility”
continues Jamie. “They were soon wheeling
the CalCube up to each device and cali-
brating them in situ with minimal disruption.
What normally halts production for days,
took just hours.”Calibration technicians can simply move the
unit to any freeze dryer, mount the gauges
on to the CalCube’s ISO calibration chamber
and perform a full range calibration against
the CalCube’s vacuum references, gener-
ating all test points required using the Cal-
Cube’s intuitive controls.As well as saving time and expense, the Cal-
Cube also helped the pharmaceutical com-
pany reduce risk by including dryer control
system readings in the calibration process.
This eliminates the introduction of errors dueto differences between the control system
output and instrument raw output through
A to D or D to A conversions, scaling errors
and programmed-in adjustment coefficients
to name a few.Due to the on-board turbo and dry dia-
phragm backing pumps, the CalCube quick-
ly pumps down to its base pressure and can
start performing calibrations in minutes. It
can generate any test pressure between
1x10-6 mbar and is compatible with most
vacuum instrumentation including capaci-
tance manometers, Pirani gauges, Ion gaug-
es and analogue gauges.“Flying to Sweden isn’t an everyday occur-
rence but it’s something we’re glad to do if
it helps customers save time and money”
concludes Jamie.The CalCube is just one of a wide range of
pressure, vacuum and gas flow measure-
ment and control solutions which Chell In-
struments produce.http://www.chell.co.ukW
hen a Scandinavian pharmaceutical
company needed to maintainvacuum calibration accuracy whilst
minimising downtime, UK pressure and
gas flow measurement specialists Chell
Instruments stepped in with CalCube.
CalCube cuts calibration
disruption for Swedish pharma firm
Feature: Vacuum calibration